Rituals & Ceremonies

"When Cambodians greet persons of special importance, they offer a long and warm embrace. Then they gently lift the honored one into the air. This gesture places the honored one's head above the head of the greeter. It says, 'I have deep reverence for your being.'

"When I met Pope John Paul II on the Vatican steps, we shared a warm embrace. Then, to show respect, I tried to lift him. But I am a small monk and the Pope is of great stature. My arm was sore for weeks. Compassion must be met with wisdom!"
— Maha Ghosananda in Step By Step

"There is a custom, both in Persia and in India that, when a younger person greets an older one, he bows his head bringing it closer to his breast, and the elder person, taking his arms, raises him up as if the younger person wanted from the elder person love, light and life; and the elder person gives it to him and raises him with it."
— Hazrat Inayat Khan in The Wisdom of Sufism